


Need for Speed

by YoureAlrightLaRusso



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Costumes, First Dates, Kinda, M/M, Top Gun (1986) References, actually like so many 80s movie references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:20:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29986224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YoureAlrightLaRusso/pseuds/YoureAlrightLaRusso
Summary: “Hey, I think your buddy is looking for you.”“Buddy?” He looked where Beetlejuice was pointing. At first he had no idea what the guy was talking about, but then the crowd thinned a bit and Daniel could see a blond guy wearing a flight suit almost identical to his own, scanning the room like he was looking for someone.He was about to tell Beetlejuice that he and this guy hadn’t come together, but when he turned back around, all he saw was the back of the striped suit chatting up a girl he could only assume was meant to be one of the Heathers. Sometimes costume parties were just surreal.
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence
Comments: 2
Kudos: 50





	Need for Speed

Daniel didn’t even know why he’d agreed to come to this stupid party. 

Well, he did know why. Because Amanda had asked and she’s his best friend and he’d do anything for her. Anything except wear a matching costume. 

“But you’d make a great Ferris Bueller!” she had pleaded. 

“I _would_ have made a great Ferris Bueller 30 years ago. Now it’d just look sad.”

He wouldn’t budge, and Amanda didn’t think anyone would get her Sloan costume without a Ferris to match, so she opted for the Pretty in Pink dress. 

“Do you see what you do, Daniel?” she said as soon as she walked out in the dress. “You make me wear the ugliest dress of the entire decade.” 

“You could have been Buttercup.”

The look she gave him told him she knew he was right, but didn’t want to admit it. Buttercup would have been the better choice. Hell, if Daniel was blond, he might have even gone for Westley. 

But now here he was, not Westley, and definitely not Ferris Bueller, surrounded by every possible 80s character you could imagine, Amanda nowhere in sight. It had been fun at first, guessing who everyone was supposed to be, but then Amanda had been swept away in the crowd and he was alone. 

This was just like every party he’d been to in high school. Not that there were all that many. But every time he’d get dragged along by some girl and then left to his own devices when she found her actual friends. 

Daniel sighed, it wasn’t Amanda’s fault. He just wanted her to have fun, and judging by the recognizable laugh that could be heard above the noise of the crowd and the music, she was well on her way to having a pretty good time. At least one of them was. 

“Hey Maverick!” It took him a moment to realize someone was talking to him. He turned to see a guy dressed like Beetlejuice waving at him, trying to get his attention. Daniel didn’t recognize him, but maybe it was the hair. 

Once their eyes met, the guy walked closer and put a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. It seemed like he was already pretty far gone, even though it wasn’t even 11 yet. Daniel tried not to judge. 

“Hey, nice costume man! I love that movie.” Daniel looked down at his flight suit costume, briefly forgetting who he was meant to be. Amanda had picked it out for him. Daniel hadn’t seen Top Gun in years, but he wasn’t about to say no to being Tom Cruise. 

“Oh yeah, thanks man,” he said awkwardly. He was off his game tonight. 

“Hey, I think your buddy is looking for you.”

“Buddy?” He looked where Beetlejuice was pointing. At first he had no idea what the guy was talking about, but then the crowd thinned a bit and Daniel could see a blond guy wearing a flight suit almost identical to his own, scanning the room like he was looking for someone. 

He was about to tell Beetlejuice that he and this guy hadn’t come together, but when he turned back around, all he saw was the back of the striped suit chatting up a girl he could only assume was meant to be one of the Heathers. Sometimes costume parties were just surreal. 

Daniel was about to forget about the interaction and go find a corner to wait in until Amanda was ready to leave, but the chair he had spotted was suddenly filled by the blond Maverick. Was he supposed to be Maverick? Maybe Goose. Goose was blond, right? 

This guy was much more handsome than Goose, Daniel thought as he walked up to him. The guy didn’t look very happy to be at the party, so Daniel figured they might be able to commiserate together. They already had at least one thing in common, and Daniel had worked with less. 

“So what?” he said, leaning up against the wall next to blondie. “This party doesn’t fill your need for speed?”

“What are you talking about?” The guy gave him a look that was much more disgusted than Daniel felt was warranted. It was a bad line, sure, but not that bad. Still, he floundered through a response. 

“You know, like, like Top Gun.” He motioned between their two costumes. The guy looked down at his own with a scowl. What was this guy’s problem?

But then he looked back up at Daniel with soft blue eyes and gave him a tiny twitch of a smile. 

“Yeah, sorry. Not having the best night.” 

“I hear ya, my friend kinda ditched me.” 

Blondie hummed and surveyed the crowd again, before his eyes landed back on Daniel’s. 

“I think I got stood up.”

Daniel hissed in sympathy and set a hand down on the guy’s shoulder. He looked down at Daniel’s hand, but didn’t try to shake him off. 

“Well, Goose, I gotta tell ya-”

“Wait, wait,” blondie said, turning to face Daniel more fully. He looked almost offended. “Goose?”

“Oh, are you Maverick? I just assumed with the blond hair you’d be-”

“I’m Iceman!” he said, showing Daniel the stitched name tag on his flight suit. 

“Isn’t he the bad guy?”

Iceman looked like he was about to get into a very long and rehearsed monologue about a secondary character from an 80s movie when Amanda, thankfully, stepped in. 

“Hey, I’ve been looking for- oh. I didn’t know you invited someone.”

“I didn’t-” Daniel started, at the same time Iceman said, “He didn’t.” 

They shared a look that had Amanda raising an eyebrow, before Iceman continued. 

“This,” he motioned between them. “Is just a coincidence.” 

Daniel didn’t like the expression that passed over Amanda’s face before she turned to look at him with a knowing smirk. He cursed his past self for telling her about his propensity for blondes. 

She quickly turned back to Iceman and held out a hand, introducing herself. 

“Johnny,” Iceman said, grinning at her strong grip. He turned to Daniel, eyebrows raised. It wasn’t until Amanda smacked his arm that he realized he hadn’t actually introduced himself yet. 

“Oh, I- I’m Daniel.” There was a bit of an awkward silence, which Daniel was only too eager to fill. “So Amanda, what did you need?” 

“Oh!” she said, as if she’d just remembered that she was the one who sought him out. “Some of us want to get out of here, hit up some bars or something. Wanna come?” She turned to Johnny. “You can come too, Iceman.”

Johnny gave him a smug look, tilting his head in an annoyingly endearing way. 

“Might have to, at least someone here is cultured enough to know Iceman when she sees him.” 

Daniel put on a show of rolling his eyes. 

“Oh, so cultured. Yeah, they should put Top Gun on the National Film Registry.”

“I think they added it a few years ago,” Amanda supplied helpfully. 

If possible, Johnny looked even more smug. Daniel was going to have to google that later. For now, he pretended she hadn’t said anything. 

“You know what, I think I might just head home. You go ahead, though.”

“Are you sure?” He nodded and she turned to Johnny with a questioning eyebrow raised. He shook his head and waved her off. 

Amanda smiled at Daniel again before giving him a kiss on the cheek, telling him to text her when he got home, and heading out with a gaggle of people including a Lost Boy, Paul Atreides, and at least three Outsiders. 

He watched Johnny’s eyes follow her as she left and felt his chest tighten, just a little bit. 

“You could have gone with her,” he said because he never did learn to leave well enough alone. “I’m sure she would have loved to get to know you better.” 

Johnny gave him an appraising look and Daniel tried not to shrink away from his piercing gaze. 

“She’s not really my type,” Johnny said eventually. And Daniel had used that line before, but it couldn’t mean the same for Johnny as it did for him. But Johnny was holding his gaze, and Daniel was mostly sure he hadn’t misinterpreted. He was _completely_ sure when Johnny added: “That a problem?”

“N-no, I- no. Uh, yeah, uh, me too. Me neither. You know… same.” 

Daniel would have cursed his sad attempt at making sense if it hadn’t made Johnny crack a smile. 

“You wanna get out of here?”

And wow. That was… not something he usually did. Not something he ever did. But he wasn’t sure he wanted this to end so soon, so maybe he could do it this once. 

Some of his inner turmoil must have shown on his face because Johnny frowned and shook his head. 

“No, no, I mean like… there’s a diner down the street open 24 hours. Are you hungry?” 

Daniel’s mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried to formulate some sort of response. That was so much better. And he was hungry. Starving actually. But of course, that’s not what came out of his mouth. 

“In our costumes?” he asked. Johnny chuckled and shrugged, shaking his head. 

“Sure man, give ‘em something to talk about.” 

Daniel found himself nodding and soon enough they were out on the street, heading towards the diner. 

Johnny ordered for him, which would have rankled him if Johnny hadn’t sworn up and down that the burger would be worth it. 

They talked about a lot of things while they waited for their food. Johnny really liked to talk about 80s movies (“Iron Eagle is 10 times better than Top Gun, I just couldn’t find the costume.”) and music (“Dee Snider, man. The most badass rocker ever.”), but he listened when Daniel talked about starting his own car dealership with Amanda and how he missed doing karate. That made Johnny choke on his Fanta and Daniel had to smack him on the back a few times until he could breathe again. 

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s just, I used to do karate too.” 

Daniel’s eyes widened and he smiled brightly. 

“Really?” 

“Yeah,” Johnny smirked, shrugging one shoulder. “Three time All-Valley, Under-18 champ.” 

“Three times?” Johnny nodded. “Wow, that must be some sort of record.” 

They talked karate while they ate, detailing their best fights, and Daniel told Johnny pretty much everything he could remember about his sensei, just happy to finally have someone to tell. Amanda was great, but she had never really been interested in karate. Johnny though, it was like he couldn’t get enough of Daniel’s stories. 

“Anyway,” Daniel said once he realized they had both finished eating and he hadn’t stopped talking. “Maybe we could, you know, spar some time.” 

“Yeah?” Johnny asked, smiling.

“Yeah,” Daniel responded, leaning forward, halfway across the table in faux-intimidation. “If you think you can handle the challenge.” 

“I think I could give it a shot.”

Then he shortened the distance between them and kissed Daniel right on the mouth. It was a chaste, brush of a thing by all accounts, but it still left Daniel a little breathless. 

“I don’t remember that in Top Gun.” 

Johnny laughed and punched him lightly on the shoulder. 

“Must be time for a re-watch, then.” 

“You name the place, Iceman.” 

They exchanged numbers and another few kisses before saying goodnight and heading in opposite directions. While Daniel sat with his forehead pressed up against the window of his cab, his phone pinged with a message. 

_Iceman: Tell Amanda she can be my wingman any time_


End file.
